There are many contexts in which an interviewer needs to elicit information from a human subject. When the interviewer and the subject do not speak a common language, their ability to communicate can be severely limited. In the context of a medical emergency, the language barrier can be particularly problematic because of the urgency for an appropriate remedial response. According to the National Virtual Translation Center (NVTC) of the United States Government (http://www.nvtc.govllotwIUSlanguages.html), more than 300 languages are spoken in the United States today. To be effective, the system should be adapted to deal with the case where the interviewer and interviewee each speak a single language and the case where they speak different languages. According to the NVTC, about 80 percent of United States residents speak only English. Further, some immigrant populations within the United States struggle to learn the English language. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, of about 168,065 residents nationally who speak Hmong, for example, about 28 percent speak English “not well” or “not at all.”